


Have We Lost

by grandmaster_sass



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AfterS02, Concubines, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, No actual rape scenes, Slaves, Voltron, consequential non-con F/F elements, voltron: legendary defender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:38:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9655856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmaster_sass/pseuds/grandmaster_sass
Summary: “Why are you afraid of me?” he purrs, hands gliding up her arms and over her shoulders.“Because you could kill me, your highness,” she replies. One of his arms lowers to curve around her waist and stroke her stomach, while the other rises to her hair, wrapping a lock around his finger.“You’ve never given me reason to kill you,” he begins as his hand lowers to trace the slit of her skirt over her thigh. “Have I ever threatened to kill you? Have I given you reason to fear me?”“No, your highness,” she mumbles. His fingers glide under her skirt, stroking the inside of her thigh. She jolts in shock, unintentionally pushing her bottom back into his person.“Why would I want to kill you when I can have much more fun with you alive?”Captives to Prince Lotor, Eri and Irina wish for nothing more than to spend all the time they can with their ailing father... With no conceivable hope for escape, their only wish is for their father's health... Until their run in with a saviour.Meanwhile, upon losing their leader, the remaining paladins are left with an important choice to make. What matters more? Loyalty or honour?





	1. Enemy

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, hope you like my very first story on AO3.  
> To clear up any misconceptions of the rape/non-con warning and the F/F checkbox in the category section; the F/F scenes in this story are non-consensual. The two female characters in these scenes do not have sexual or romantic feelings for or intentions toward one another, therefore any F/F scenes between these two characters will not at any point build into a romantic relationship.  
> Also, their interactions with the character who forces them to be intimate prelude but do not actually entail intercourse (with penetration) occurring. In english, there are no sex scenes in this book, only mild foreplay to suggest at sex for the purpose of giving context.

Prince Lotor watches his girls with pride as the blonde dances for him and the brunette feeds him moonfruit; large white berries the size of an eyeball that taste of something with the same qualities of saffron, and stains the lips with its concealed red juices. Both of his girls have qualities that appeal to him. Both are exquisitely beautiful, and have gorgeous, young bodies, and, on top of that, both are exceptionally gifted in the arts, the blonde more so in dancing, and the brunette singing. 

That is where their similarities end, however. In fact, you’d hardly know they were sisters. Of the two, the blonde is sensual and quick to action, improvising ways to please him that he has not even thought of yet. The brunette, on the other hand, is far less enthusiastic and when she serves him she does so from a heart of fear… He likes that about her. 

Fear is a large motivator.

He watches the blonde’s hips sway and the corner of his mouth quirks up in a lascivious smile as he gestures to the blonde to join the brunette at his feet. She goes to him, not wanting to anger him, and he angles his head towards the brunette who places the tray of fruit down, knowing just as well what he wants.

The girls unclip the small transparent purple veils around their mouths and carefully draw closer to one another, the blonde cradling the back of her sister’s head and meeting her lips to the brunettes. They moved quickly enough to not look too reluctant, even if it disgusts them to have to do so, and gradually their pace builds to something seemingly natural, even if it is not. 

“More!” the Prince demands, fist thumping against the arm of the chaise in which he lounges. Their pace quickens, the brunette opening her mouth to receive the blonde’s tongue, and the little gold discs that make up their headdress jingle with their movement. Irina, the brunette, tries to separate her mind from her body wishing she were anywhere else as a tear falls from the corner of her eye. Eri, the blonde, brings her thumb up, quickly swiping it away from her sister’s cheek, hoping the prince did not notice. 

As much as Irina hates that he makes them do this, she endures, though she isn’t quite as good as her sister at concealing it. To her relief, whenever he makes them do anything remotely sexual her sister always takes the lead… Which is probably why he likes Eri more. Well, that’s just fine with her. The less he commands she do things that are anything like this for him, the better. She would be happy to just feed him moonfruit for the rest of her life.

Unlike her sister Irina who operates on survival mode, Eri is methodical, reducing the prince’s thoughts and actions to a pattern. She knows what he likes, what he wants, and what he does, and, not wanting to give him reason to kill them, she accommodates it enough to satisfy him until he grows bored, and then when he is, she finds new ways to entertain him. Being a jealous and impatient prince, she knows he does not gain as much enjoyment from watching she and her sister kiss one another as he does being with one- or both- of them himself. He fears they might gain more enjoyment from being intimate with one another than they would him. A notion he does not realize is utterly ridiculous and disgusting to the girls, whichever way you look at it. 

“Stop!” the prince commands. The girls pull apart and the prince grabs Eri, wrapping her long blonde hair in a fist and driving her mouth towards his. She squeaks in a mixture of surprise and pain at the sting his grip has caused in her roots, but quickly turns that pained squeak into small moans in the back of her throat, pretending she feels anything other than disgust for him. Her hand settles over his expansive chest and he hoists her up onto the chaise, pinning her body under his and gliding his large paw up the side of her slitted transparent purple skirt where only a tiny set of purple underwear lies beneath.

Seething, but not wanting to anger the prince, Irina stands, re-clipping her mouth covering and improvising her own dance. She knows the prince won’t preoccupy himself long enough to let one of “his girls” escape and that in seconds his eyes will track her movements to the other side of the room. As expected, the prince looks up at her while he kisses and she dances, making sure she is behaving. Swinging her hips, and knowing the implications of doing so, she turns around, not wanting to look him in the eye. He could and would do anything he wanted with her, anyhow. Not intentionally provoking him would not make him want to nail her any less. As long as she could take her moments of reprieve, she would endure it. 

Having the prince watch her so closely while her sister, now practically forgotten, lay beneath him, kissing him at his request, makes her wonder if he gains any real enjoyment from their company at all, or if they are just trophies for him to annoy. 

A knock at the Prince’s door roused both herself and the prince from their activities, causing the brunette to pause in her dance.

“Did I say you could stop?” Prince Lotor rebukes. Irina resumes her dance while Eri reaches for some moonfruit, holding it in front of the prince’s mouth for him to take. He takes a bite, half of the resplendent berry disappearing into his mouth as a trail of red juice spits out in all directions, some dribbling over his lips and chin, some spraying the blonde in the face. 

“Enter,” he calls to the person outside the door, turning his attention back to the blonde and licking up the red trail just below her eye. Doing her best not to squirm and remaining in character, the blonde took the remaining half of the fruit between her teeth for the Prince to take from her with his own mouth. The messenger watches with rapt attention, floored by the beauty of the prince’s two most prized possessions.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, your highness, but I’ve come with orders from Haggar to deliver you to Zarkon’s ship. She says it’s urgent.” The prince growls in undisguised annoyance at the intrusion, dipping his head to take the berry from Eri's mouth. “It’s about Zarkon,” the messenger goes on.

“What about him?”

“He’s dead, your highness.” Prince Lotor’s ears twitch, growl ceasing, and a wicked smile settles over his features. He rises from the chaise and goes to the door, significantly less reluctant than he was a minute earlier.

“See to it that those two are taken back to the dungeon until I return,” Prince Lotor says, buttoning up his shirt. The messenger licks his lips. 

“With pleasure, your highness.”

~ ~ ~

“Father!” 

The weeping sisters are received with open arms as they are thrown into the dungeon. They cuddle up to either side of their father and he kisses the tops of their heads, assuring them everything will be okay as the guard who took them- in more ways than one- locks the dungeon door behind them and strides off whistling to himself. 

“I missed you, father,” Irina weeps. “I can’t remember how long it’s been since we were with you last.”

“I missed you too, my darlings.” A coughing fit ensues and their father sways on his feet. The girls gently lower him to the floor. Their father, Tarin, was infected with a virus unknown to them when they fled Altea and moved to Garathon when they were young, and since contracting it, and with no access to a healer, he’s only grown weaker by the day. Eri and Irina’s greatest fear is not that they’ll never be freed, but that their father will die while they’re away from the dungeons, serving the prince. 

Tarin’s once strong body shakes, now frail and thin as the girls lean him against the wall to keep him upright. The dungeons are freezing in comparison to the upper levels of the castle, and their father suffers the worst of its effects. The girls rub his arms to warm him up, though they haven’t much heat to give, themselves. The three of them sit there against the wall, consoling one another, bodies shaking from the cold. The girls turn to one another, wordlessly deliberating a plan to make their father happy… And then Irina starts to sing.

Some hours later the sound of footsteps alert the girls, interrupting their songs. Another guard- different to the one from before- arrives at the dungeon door to retrieve the girls.

“Come on, we don’t have all day.” They reluctantly remove themselves from their father’s side, kissing his forehead in parting.

“Stay alive, father… Please,” Eri says as she follows her sister out of the dungeon. He nods his head just barely enough to be visible.

“I love you, both,” he whispers weakly… But they are already gone.

On the walk back to the prince’s bedroom through the dark dungeon corridor, Eri sees a black shadow out of the corner of her eye and looks up, spotting the last she can make out of man wearing black. A man, who, like herself and her sisters, appears Altean if the little she saw of his lightly tanned skin (not purple fur) was anything to go by. Whatever he is, he doesn’t seem Galran. She cranes her neck to get a better look at the stranger but just as quickly as she sees him he disappears. The Galra guard shoves her forward and she keeps moving. Back to captivity.

~ ~ ~

“I say we should go after him,” the young green Paladin speaks up. “What if he’s on Zarkon’s ship looking for my family?”

“What if he’s been taken captive!” another cries.

“I’m sure we’d all prefer to find Shiro, and I understand that you want to find your family Pidge, but the simple fact of the matter is that the ship can’t withstand another trip to help a neighbouring planet at the moment, let alone a potential sparring match with the Galra. Not while it’s in the state it’s in. And that’s not even mentioning how drained yourselves and the princess must be. We and the ship need to lay low for a while and build our strength back up before we think about going anywhere,” Coran insists, being the voice of reason as he is so fond of doing. The remaining paladins grumble their accord just as the doors to the main deck open revealing a slightly dishevelled Allura.

“Princess, what are you doing up? You should be resting!” Coran admonishes.

“If I hadn’t heard that sentence enough already,” she sighs with a shake of her head. “I couldn’t sleep…”

“You’re worried about Shiro,” Coran predicts. Allura nods her head. “We all are, Princess, but we need to redirect our energy and rest. That battle with Zarkon took a lot out of us, you in particular.”

“I know, I just- I just can’t seem to fall asleep. I close my eyes but no matter how much time passes sleep eludes me. I feel if I can’t rest I should at least be productive.”

“If you insist, princess, there is a matter we could use your input on. We’ve been discussing what our next move regarding Shiro’s disappearance will be, and on that note we need to address the Hefalenka in the room. We may have defeated Zarkon, but there are still countless numbers of civilisations that need our help to rebuild their planets, and we’re down a paladin. If the black lion sees fit, I think someone should take Shiro’s place, just while we’re still trying to find him.”

“He’s been gone not even twenty four hours and you already want to replace him,” Keith seethes.

“No, I don’t, but the world won’t stop turning for us just because we’re down a team member. I’m just saying, if it comes to it, and if for whatever reason someone does need you to form Voltron, we can’t help them if someone doesn’t step up to the plate and temporarily borrow that position until we find Shiro or he returns.”

“As unsettling as it is to hear, Coran is right," Allura says. "Say we encounter another instance like the one with the mermaids’ civilization, or another creature like the Weblum. An instance where a monster is tearing a planet apart, and with it it’s inhabitants lifesource, and the only way we can defeat it is to form Voltron. Are we not going to help those people to the best of our ability because we feel uneasy about taking a team member’s place? Should we ignore Voltron’s purpose? What kind of legendary defenders would that make us?”

“We didn’t ask to be the defenders of the universe,” Pidge retorts.

“No, you didn’t ask for it. You were chosen. And hopefully, with Zarkon’s defeat, we won’t need to defend the universe again for some time, and you will be able to go back to just being regular kids, if only for a while. But this battle with Zarkon and the Galra isn’t over just because they’ve lost their leader. There’s no telling when, but we should be prepared for the idea that someone might take Zarkon’s place and reign terror once again, and in order to do that we need to be ready to fight again. If it means re-shuffling the team, so be it!” Coran lays his hand on the princess's shoulder, calming her down.

“Which is why we will be continuing this discussion after everyone has had some rest and has a level head,” Coran says, looking at the princess, just as much as the rest of the group. “As the princess said, it is an issue we will inevitably have to face some time, however right now it isn’t our priority. Rest, have some down time, do whatever you need to do that relaxes you, as long as it can be done on the ship, and we’ll reconvene here again tomorrow morning at 9.” 

~ ~ ~

“Something ails you, sister,” Irina observes. 

“Hmm?” Eri replies, distractedly.

“There is something on your mind, Eri. What is it?” Irina whispers.

“When we were leaving the dungeon yesterday evening I think I spotted a man… I think he was Altean.”

“Surely, he cannot have been. We are the last of our kind. It is why we fled Altea in the first place.”

“I thought we were also, but this man, from the little I saw of him, he wasn’t big and purple like the Galra. He was smaller, and he had skin like us. Not fur. I did not see much more than a flash of skin and a black suit, but I cannot think of what else he could be, if not one of us. We must find him. If he is in fact Altean, perhaps there are more of us than we thought. Perhaps father’s vision was wrong and our home planet still thrives.”

“But how will we find him when we are guarded so closely?”

Eri looks over at the sleeping prince. “No one is guarding us now.” 

“No, but in case you have forgotten we’re far from going anywhere,” Irina replies, punctuating her point by looking down at the manacles around each of their ankles. Eri sighs. 

“Then we will just have to find some method of knocking the prince out for a little while before he chains us in the evening.”

“And how might we do that? We haven’t the faintest idea how to cast spells, concoct potions, or anything of the sort.”

“You’re right, we don’t,” Eri says, eyes glinting with mischief. Her lips pull up in a grin as she replies, “but father does.”


	2. Lullaby

At 8:50am AST (Aerusian Standard Time), Coran and Allura meet on the main deck, awaiting the arrival of the paladins. Coran fidgets, wanting to give his own verdict of who he thinks should become the new leader to Allura, but withholds. At 8:55am Pidge is the first to arrive, then Hunk at 8:57, then Lance at 8:57 and twelve ticks. The paladins try to prompt discussion early, but Coran is stiff-lipped, not wanting to begin until all are present. By 8:59 Keith has not arrived. 9:00am passes… And then 9:01am.

“Maybe someone should go get him.” Lance suggests.

“Don’t send out a search party. I’m here,” Keith grumbles. “Forgot to turn my alarm on,” he explains, expecting to get his head bitten off regardless.

“Well, what matters is that we’re all here now,” Coran replies, much to everyone’s surprise. “Now, to rehash yesterday’s conversation, we are down a paladin, as you all know, and we may need to reshuffle the group in order to re-form Voltron again, should it ever be needed. One of us needs to be willing to do it. We’re going to put to vote who we think should be the new leader, however before we do I want to hear everyone’s thoughts- should they have any- on the matter.

“Or we could just vote. I’m pretty sure we all know who it’s gonna be,” Lance says.

“Do we?” Coran replies.

“Well it makes the most sense for Allura to be the new leader. She knows more about Voltron than any of us, and if any one of us accepts the position of the leading role, and the black lion that goes with it we will still be down a team member. It makes sense that it should be someone outside of the team, and Allura is the most qualified to do so.”

“I second that,” Pidge says.

“Yep, me too,” Hunk follows.

“Alright, Keith, what are your thoughts?”

“Yeah, sounds fine, I guess,” he replies noncommittally.

“Great, Allura, you are the new black paladin. Now that that’s sorted, breakfast! After breakfast the five of you will have your first training session together with Allura, so eat up!” The paladins groan, skulking off to the kitchen for breakfast.

~ ~ ~

Prince Lotor awakens the following morning in a good mood, not feeling the need to assert his dominance over his girls. Eri smiles with him, not wanting to sour his mood, and by some miracle they manage a reasonably civil morning filled with the usual hair and body washing, prince-dressing and . As the afternoon draws near he begins to calm down, returning to his usual state, and the girls miss the brief few hours they had with a side of the prince they had never before seen, and would probably never see again.

In spite of this, they make the best of the time they spend entertaining the prince, Eri continuing to flirt with him effortlessly, as if her life didn't depend on it, Irina looking at him with slightly less fear and more understanding.

Prince Lotor observes Irina as she feeds him. He cannot say he particularly approves of that last development, but if it means she’ll present an easier challenge and will come to be more like her sister he finds he wouldn’t mind… She never reciprocates like her sister does when he beds her.

_I wonder what she’d be like willingly spread for a man… Timid and unmoving, most likely… I’ll find some way to change that._ Irina looks up at him, becoming flustered when she realises he is already staring at her. She tentatively holds a piece of fruit up to him, feeling naked under his gaze and averting her eyes to his chin.

“Are you afraid of me?” the prince asks.

Irina lowers her head. “Yes-”

“Look at me when I speak to you,” he admonishes. Her head snaps up

“I’m sorry, your highness.” He gently wraps his fingers around her swan-like neck, stroking it with his thumb and she shrinks back.

“Entertain yourself, Eri.” Eri is conflicted, a small part of her not wanting to anger the prince, a larger part wanting to ensure her sister’s safety.

“Please don’t hurt her.” Prince Lotor looks over at Eri.

“I won’t if you do as I say.” Reluctantly, Eri nods and moves to the bathroom to brush her hair (and to keep an eye on the prince and her sister in the bathroom mirror).

The prince turns back to Irina, fingers gliding down her neck and the top of her chest, just missing her cleavage as he plucks up a juicy, white berry from the tray which she holds just below her breasts. He holds the berry out to her and she goes to take it with her hand. He moves it away.

“With your mouth.” She slowly withdraws her hand and leans her head forward, teeth closing over the berry and sinking in. She pulls away and the berry breaks open, spraying its juice out over her chin and dripping onto her chest. Afraid to look away, Irina keeps eye contact with the prince as she chews, unaware of just how much it pleases him. She swallows and brings the back of her hand up to clean her chin, but he grabs her wrist.

“Leave it.” With her wide eyes and the red stains on her chin and chest- stains that remind him of blood- she looks like a siren. A predator who wraps itself in beautiful songs. A nightmare disguised as a fantasy. Except she is neither. She is prey… Beautiful, alluring prey, but prey nonetheless. And he is looking forward to devouring her.

He lowers her hand and beckons her closer, drawing her in with the berry until she is only a breath away. He places what remains of the berry on his tongue and she hesitates a moment, realising after a beat what he is implying. She follows too slowly for the prince's liking. Prince Lotor grabs the back of her head, angling it to the left and guiding it forward. Gathering all of her courage, she curves her tongue around the bit of fruit, trying not to flinch when her tongue grazes his own, and she withdraws, bringing the berry into her own mouth and chewing.

“You have no idea how sexy your are, little Irina…” She blushes, having never been called such a thing before. Eri, yes, but not her. She swallows.

“Thank you, your highness,” she replies timidly. He holds his hand out to her and, with some reserve, she takes it. He stands from the chaise and lifts her to her feet, leading her away from the chaise, and she fears he is going to take her to bed. But he does not. He takes her to a large gold, decorated floor to ceiling mirror.

“Why are you afraid of me, little Irina?” he purrs, hands gliding up her arms and over her shoulders.

“Because you could kill me, your highness,” she replies. One of his arms lowers to curve around her waist and stroke her stomach, while the other rises to her hair, wrapping a lock around his finger. He buries his nose into the hair covering her neck, inhaling.

“You’ve never given me reason to kill you,” he begins as his hand lowers further to trace the slit of her skirt over her thigh. “Have I ever threatened to kill you? Have I given you reason to fear me?”

“No, your highness,” she mumbles. His fingers glide under her skirt, stroking the inside of her thigh as his lips whisper against her ear. She jolts in shock, unintentionally pushing her bottom back into his person.

“Why would I want to kill you when I can have much more fun with you alive?” She flinches away from him and he sighs, slowly drawing away from her ear. “Shame… I thought we were making progress.”

~ ~ ~

“Wake up, old man! You got visitors.” Tarin looks up as the guard pushes Eri and Irina into the cell and locks the wrought iron door behind them.

“My girls,” Tarin calls, receiving his daughters with desperate hugs. “I’m blessed to see you two, two days in a row. Are you back here for good?” he asks as the girls cuddle into his shoulders.

“If only it were so, father. The prince has been called away back to Zarkon’s ship. We overheard that Zarkon was dead so I think the Galra are preparing him to be their new leader.”

Tarin sighs. “Well, at least if that is true, it means I will get to see more of you girls before I pass.”

“Don’t speak of that, father. I won’t hear another word of it,” Eri rebukes. He places his hand on her shoulder, not saying- not having to say- what they are all thinking. Eri sighs, changing the subject.

“We have something to ask of you father. We believe we may have seen a man- not a Galran- on our walk back to… Well, you know. Anyhow, we think he may be Altean, and we’re hoping he-”

“Altean? How can that be? All of Altea was wiped out by the Galra.. I never saw any survivours.”

“We don’t know, father, but the man I saw was shorter than a Galra guard and he had pale skin like us, not purple fur. I can’t think what else he could be, if not one of us.”

“... Could my vision have been wrong?” Tarin quietly muses to himself. The girls look at one another.

“We were hoping he might know how to get out of here. We want to see him again, but when the prince is not around we are always sent here, and when he sleeps we are chained to a bolt in the floor so we cannot leave. We wanted to know if you know any spells or potions that can knock someone out or put them to sleep.”

“Yes, of course. There is a lullaby spell that sends people to sleep before the last word is uttered.” He smiles to himself. “Your mother caught me singing it to you girls on more than one occasion when you refused to go down for bed as babies.”

“How does it work? Do we just sing the lullaby and it just happens?”

“No. In order for it to be effective you must constantly be in contact with the person you are putting to sleep. It will not work otherwise. Now I’m afraid I don’t have a whole song in me, and so I won’t be able to sing it to your verbally so I will transfer it to you in my memories.”

“You can do that?”

“Won’t that drain your energy?” the girls ask in unison.

“Yes, I can. And no. No more than trying to sing a whole verse would.” Tarin wraps his hand around his daughter’s heads, thumb pressed to the centre of their foreheads. He closes his eyes and lowers his head, muttering an incantation, and the girls feel a warmth burrowing through the centre of their heads and soaking into their cortices, rearing memories they never knew they had to the surface... Memories of their father singing to them when they were only babies.

Tarin’s muttering comes to an abrupt halt but he does not pull away, hands remaining on their heads. The girls wrap their arms around their father’s waist settling in his embrace.

“It’s so cold in here. When was the last time you had a decent rest, father?” Eri asks.

He sighs. “I’m not sure. It’s impossible to tell how much time has passed down here, but no matter how much sleep I get I never feel well rested. I’ve forgotten what it feels like to have a good night’s rest since the virus.”

“May we sing you the lullaby, father? I mean, is it safe?” Tarin nods his head. The girls place their hands on both his shoulders and his forehead, and as their mouths open the first words of the lullaby flow out like a spring of water. Tarin closes his eyes, controlling his breathing, and eventually his breaths thicken into a yawn. He is out in seconds.

As Tarin has his first proper rest in ten years, his girls watch over him like guardian angels. In the stillness of the cell, with nothing but waiting to do, seconds pass like minutes, and minutes like hours, and when the girls are finally retrieved from the cells they too are found sleeping peacefully. An alarming grinding and screeching sound drags the girls out of their dreams and they realize it is the heavy iron cell door, for a moment forgetting entirely that they were even down in the dungeons to begin with.

“Hope you enjoyed your rest,” the guard taking them back to the prince’s room says, grabbing them by their wrists and slapping cuffs onto them. The girls are hauled out of the cell and Eri immediately searches the dark stone walls for another glance of the stranger in black, in vain, as it seems there is no one around but them. The girls are shoved into the prince’s room and the guard closes and locks the door behind them.

“My favourite girls,” Prince Lotor greets. “Come give daddy a kiss.”

~ ~ ~

“Someone cover Allura!” Lance calls. Keith stabs his sword through the artificial chest of the training bot in front of him and withdraws it, turning to his left where Allura is in hand to hand combat with another training bot. Keith runs at the bot, driving his sword through its side, and up into its chest.

“Thanks Keith.” He nods, moving to Hunk's side to help him with his own bot, as Allura moves to help Pidge. More bots appear and the five separate again, all tackling one or more bots on their own.

“There’s gotta be a way we can defeat them all in one or two hits. Maybe a few of us distract while someone finds a way to short circuit them or something,” Lance suggests.

“It would be a great idea if we knew where their controls were and how to get to them, but from outside their bodies the only way we can do that is to cut them open. It might be an effective solution to keep them down but but it won’t be faster. We’re better off trying to find a way that doesn’t require tampering with their systems to get them to attack one another,” Pidge says.

“How do we do that?”

“Bring the team in. Everyone back to back. When we’re close enough we all duck and hopefully they should all strike for roughly the same area- missing us and striking one another.”

“It’s a bit of a long shot, but it’s worth a try. Everyone start backing into the centre of the room.” Gradually the paladins back up until they are all fighting back to back. “Everyone, on three deliver your final attack and then duck… 1… 2… 3!” The young paladins deliver their last and their hardest attack and duck and three bots go down.

“Okay, that’s three down. Anyone with new ideas, let’s hear them.”

“Anyone got a rope? A rope would be helpful,” Lance says.

“I don’t even have shoelaces,” Hunk supplies.

“Thanks, Hunk.”

“Wait, guys. My blades are attached to wires. Would they work?” Pidge suggests.

“If they can circle four guards securely they’ll do.”

“Done.” Pidge shoots one of her blades over the body of a fallen bot into the adjacent wall and shrinks out of the huddle, circling four times around the bots. “Get out now, guys! I’m about to pull them together.” The paladins once again deliver their last blows and shrink out of the circle and Pidge pulls tight. The bots bodies all slam into one another.

“Remaining paladins with weapons, attack now!”

The paladins ready their weapons, and with the bots’ arms immobilised, they strike each one right in the centre of the chest. All three bots wobble and Pidge retracts her blade as they crumble to the ground.

“It worked!”

“Good job, paladins!” Allura calls. The fallen bots disappear and the simulation chamber door groans as the vacuum seal releases and the door inches open. Coran enters.

“Excellent work, paladins. Good communication, good teamwork. Go have lunch and I’ll find somewhere to land the ship so you can do your next exercise on the ground with your lions.

“Alright! Lunch time!” The paladins hurry to the dining room, hoeing into their weird space food that they no longer question.   
  
"Great job, paladins. We all worked together very well… Good job to Pidge and Lance, especially. Good suggestions.”

“Thanks princess.”

“Hey Hunk, I know we’re all pretty much used to this space food, but any time you wanna whip up something top shelf feel free, aye,” Lance says.

“You got it, man.”

“Yes! Afternoon tea, courtesy of our own iron chef!”

“Iron chef?” Allura asks.

“It’s a human thing.

~ ~ ~

“Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready to go again, ladies,” Prince Lotor says, hands stroking the girl’s hips. Eri and Irina look over Prince Lotor’s quickly beating chest at one another as they all- the prince in particular- recover from their recent activities. Both girls are curled into his sides, and both have their hands over his chest. Deciding now is as good a time as they can get, Eri mouths the word “now” to Irina, who mouths “yes” in reply.

“May we sing for you, my prince?” Eri asks, looking up at him through her lashes and stroking his chest with her palm. Her hand lowers to trace one of his hipbones in the V above his groin and her lips ghost across his ear. “I know it would please Irina very much to sing for you,” she purrs in his ear.

Trying not to appear too eager, the prince replies with an apathetic, “I suppose” but she knows it pleases him to think so. The attention of one beauty is not enough for a man such as him. Irina doesn’t realize it, but the prince likes her for the challenge she represents, as much as he likes Eri herself for her teasing and willing nature.

“Thank you, your highness.” The two begin singing, Irina having already deduced a harmony that gives the seemingly simple melody an almost angelic quality.

_Where the trees sway gently,_   
_And water’s meek,_   
_So should you also be_

_In a dream-like state,_   
_Where the sun abates_   
_And stars shine bright for thee_

_The moon glows white in the calm of night,_   
_The earth opens its arms,_   
_The clouds will cover, and angels hover,_   
_Here none can do you harm_

Prince Lotor’s eyelids begin to flicker and Eri draws tiny figure eights over his chest.

_So close your eyes and sleep for me,_   
_Pray deeply you will dream,_   
_And in the morning rise again,_   
_Awake on heav’nly beam_

The prince’s hands slacken on the girl’s hips and they carefully wriggle out from under his arms. They dress quietly and as Irina tiptoes to the door Eri tiptoes back over to the Prince, laying a towel over his immodesty.

“Goodnight, your highness.”


	3. Saviour

“Keith,” Hunk calls, slowly approaching the reclusive red paladin. “You okay, man?”

“Fine,” he replies noncommittally.

“You miss Shiro,” he more states than guesses. They all do, but knowing how close Keith and Shiro were, Hunk understands that the typically withdrawn paladin feels a greater personal loss than the rest at Shiro’s disappearance. They were like brothers, Shiro and Keith. He never really knew or asked about their history, but it was obvious they had it. Keith sighs, head and shoulders lowering, a hand coming up too scrub his face.

“I just- I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, man. It seems like the universe doesn’t really need us right now but I don’t really have anywhere to go. Shiro is my family, and now that he’s gone and the universe is surviving without us I just kinda feel like, I dunno, what the fuck do I do now?”

“We’re your family too, man. And we’re not going anywhere, so don’t you think of going anywhere. I know you feel his loss more deeply than the rest of us, but we miss Shiro too and we’re all enduring it together. That’s why we’re still here. Not just to be useful in case we ever need to save the universe together, but so we can support each other.”

“I know,” Keith sighs. “Can I tell you something, man?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve had something weighing on my mind ever since Shiro left. Do you remember that time Shiro and I were stranded on another planet during the Kerberos mission?” Hunk nods. “Well, when it was just me and him he told me if something ever happened to him he wanted me to be the new leader in his place. As if he knew all along that he was gonna leave. And I- I didn’t even consider it as a possibility, man. All I was worried about was how terrible a leader I’d be. And now I just feel like, I dunno, maybe I could have stopped him before he left if I hadn’t had my head up my own ass. Maybe he would still be here if I’d said something.”

“It’s understandable that you’d feel responsible but you shouldn’t blame yourself, Keith. We took a serious beating at the end there. We don’t even know how long we were out before we all came to. None of us were in a position to stop him, regardless of whether or not we'd known. Not that it helps much, but he may not have even left, he may have been taken. I know that's still hard for all of us to hear, but if he was it means he didn't chose to leave us.” Keith says nothing, not really knowing what to say. It's not like him being captured is a better alternative. If anything it's worse.  
  
“I’ll make you something nice to eat, okay man?” Hunk gently claps Keith on the back and heads for the kitchen and Keith returns to his solitude.

~ ~ ~

“Is Keith alright?” Allura asks as Hunk re-enters the kitchen.

“He will be. I'm gonna make him something to eat. I doubt we'll be seeing him at dinner.”

“Should I go talk to him?”

“I think he just wants to be left alone. But if you do wanna see him and you're willing you could take his dinner to him when it's ready.”

“Yeah, sure,” Allura replies with a friendly smile.

“Can I ask you a question, Hunk?”

“Yeah sure.”

“Who taught you to cook?”

“My mother, mostly. She's the best cook. She taught me and my four brothers and sisters. Cooking is eternal in my family. And it calms me down when I'm stressed.”

“Could you teach me to cook?”

“Sure. What do you want to learn?”

“Everything,” she replies as if it was obvious.

“You- you can't cook anything? Nothing at all!”

“Absolutely nothing. For as long as I can remember I've had someone cook for me.” She picks up a spatula in a lineup of cooking utensils. “I don't even know what this is.” Hunk looks horrified.

“...I’m not gonna lie, this is gonna take a while.”

~ ~ ~

“Try the patio door.” Eri suggests to Irina. I’ve never seen him lock it with a key, only hand-lock, Eri thinks. Irina nods and goes to the patio door, turning the latch under the lock with little success.

“It’s not working.”

“Maybe you have to turn it multiple times in a certain direction,” Eri suggests. Irina turns it in a circle three times to the left until it won’t turn any more. She lowers the handle but it only lowers a fraction. She tries again, doing the same thing but turning it towards the right and after the final turn the lock clicks. They smile and push the door open, pressing it securely shut behind them before they look to the walls either side of them, trying to decide where they could go from there.

“You know, it’s crazy, we could just escape now if we wanted to.”

“If we had a death wish. This castle is in the middle of nowhere. Who knows how long it’d take to find civilization.”

“You’re right.” Eri blushes, ashamed at forgetting about a certain family member. “And father is still here. We could never leave without him.”

“No, we couldn’t.” They go over to the edge of the patio and look across to the next one (which is really more like a small balcony) a meter across and a level below.

“Here goes nothing. Wait here a moment.” Eri climbs over the ledge and jumps, clenching her teeth to stop from squealing as she goes down. She lands less than gracefully but with no damage coming to her person and gets up, checking the window to see if it is open and if anyone is inside. From the little she can make out in the darkness the room seems unoccupied. Now if she could just get inside. She’d really prefer it was open so she wouldn’t have to jump every balcony.

She curves her fingers under the window pane and lifts and, with some considerable effort, pries it open. She pulls the curtains apart and pokes her head in, confirming the room is empty. Eri turns back to Irina and calls her to follow and Irina jumps down, landing about as gracefully as Eri didn’t. The girls climb into the room, one after the other, and rush to the door, turning the door handle to find it unlocked.

“This room mustn't be very important,” Eri whispers. They open it a fraction, watching the rounds in which guards pass, and observe that approximate 40 free seconds passes between each guard.

“Alright, after the next guard we wait for five seconds and then go. We’ll run to the left and check for open rooms for up to fifteen seconds, and after that we either pick a room we’ve found or run back to this room if nothing else is open. If we find ourselves in a closer room we wait there for a few rounds while we watch the guards pass, and recalculate if we need, and then we go again. We do that as many times as we have to for as long as we have to.” Irina nods, and as a guard passes, they begin the count, feeling like spies ducking torches.

At five seconds they run, at eleven they open another door, and then at eighteen they open the following. The slip in, wait for the next guard to pass, and then the one following to confirm their forty second intervals, and then five seconds after the guard passes they do it again… and again.

“I hate that we have no idea where this guy is or how long we could be running around like this,” Irina whispers.

“You and me both.” I dread to think he might not help us even if we do manage to find him. “If I wanted to stow away in this castle and not be caught, where would I go?” Eri asks herself aloud.

“Laundry room, maybe. In the evening at least when no-one’s working in there. It’s secluded enough, and there’s no reason anyone should go down there in the middle of the night.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“I really hope he’s there.”

“I really hope he can help us, if he even is one of us.”

It takes eleven minutes and thirty seven seconds to reach the laundry room, a room previously accessed in less than five minutes when they were first taken by the prince and used to work down there, washing, drying and pressing the prince’s clothes… That was until he decided he’d rather utilize them for their more immediately pleasing qualities.

“Search every corner, hole or nook you can find on the right hand side of the room, I’ll take the left.” Irina goes to the right, checking behind the door and in industrial sized washing machines. Eri does the same on the left, checking secret compartments and doors they already knew were built into the walls… She comes across a large linen trolley and pulls off the first sheet. An arm reaches out, grabbing hold of her wrist and yanking her in, and she squeaks as she goes in headfirst.

On her way down she headbutts something firm and the hand on her wrist moves over her mouth. She fumbles with the sheets, unearthing them, and both gasp when they see one another. Even with the scar across his nose he is the most beautiful man she has ever seen; with an amazingly sculpted jaw, thick but neat eyebrows, and bottomless dark eyes that probably speak of more than the man himself has ever done.

“I’m sorry,” the man says, releasing her. “I thought you were a guard.” Ignoring his apology she reaches out, gliding the tips of her fingers over his nose. He flinches and her hand pulls back a fraction.

“Your ears?” she whispers curiously. He lifts a hand to his ear, realization registering on his face. “What are you?”

“I’m human. And a paladin of Voltron… if you know what that is.” Eri nods

“Are you here to save us?”

“Save you?”

“Yes. From Prince Lotor.”

“Who is Prince Lotor?”

“He is the ruler of this castle, sir.”

“Are you his prisoner?”

“Yes, both my sister and myself. And we are not the only ones. The rest of us live in the dungeons… Where I saw you.”

“You saw me?”

“Yes. That’s why we came down here. To find you.” Irina hovers above the trolley, looking down on the entangled pair.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“I found him, and he’s a paladin of Votron!” Eri exclaims excitedly. “I think he can get us out of here.”

“First, you two need to get out of there.” Eri looks down, realizing she is half lying on him and pulls back. Shiro sees her outfit for the first time and blushes, looking away as he tries to get himself upright. Both swing their legs over the trolley, with only Eri receiving assistance, and Eri throws the sheet she pulled out back into the trolley.

“Sorry,” he says again, looking away from the two scantily-clad women. They turn to one another.

“Is it a human trait to be overly shy and apologetic?”

“It is if you’re from Canada.”

“What is Canada?”

“It’s a place on earth where humans are from.”

“Oh. Are you from Canada?”

“No.”

“Then why are you so shy?”

“Because you’re… not wearing… a lot.”

“Oh… Are humans very modest when it comes to clothing?”

“It depends on the human.”

“Does it bother you?”

“No, no, it doesn’t bother me, I’m just- I’m just not used to seeing it so openly, I guess,” Shiro stutters. Eri, knowing her sexual appeal and her attraction to the man in black, slowly approaches him, lowering her voice.

“But it doesn’t bother you?” she purrs, her hand lifting to his cheek. His cheeks flush and he gulps.

“N- no.”

“Down girl,” Irina reprimands. Eri reluctantly retracts her hand.

“What is your name, human?”

“Shiro… Well technically it’s Takashi Shirogane but everyone just calls me Shiro,” he stammers.

“Well Shiro, my name is Eri, and this is my sister Irina. We are from Altea-”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I know two other Alteans.”

“There are others? We thought we were the last ones.”

“So did we.”

“Where are they? Are they in Altea?”

“No, they’re aboard the Princess Allura’s ship. Herself and her friend Coran are the only two that remain.

“The Princess is still alive?”

“Yes. One of only two that survived as far as we knew until you two found me.”

“If you are a paladin of Voltron are you here to save us?”

“I’d like to, but I am away from the rest of the group so I can’t guarantee I can get you out here anytime soon, if at all. I came onto the ship because we recently defeated Zarkon, and while that may sound like a victory, I know that won't be the end of it. This is my opportunity to get ahead of the curve. They have to have some plan or replacement that we don’t know about. So I left the group on one of Zarkon’s escape ships and they brought me here right to their next move. Whoever this Prince Lotor is I think he’s Zarkon’s replacement, and I wouldn’t have known that if I went home with the rest of the group.”

“Not just his replacement,” Irina remarks.

“What do you mean?”

“Prince Lotor is Zarkon’s son.” Shiro get’s an exasperated look.

“... Shit.”

The three hear footsteps approaching and all jump into the trolley, packing themselves in like sardines into a tin can. They throw the sheets over themselves, Eri once again falling on top of the shy paladin Shiro and becoming stuck there by Irina who half lays herself on top of Eri. She breathes quietly, head resting on Shiro's chest which she feels rise and fall beneath her, and they wait for the footsteps to subside.

Irina rises first, then Eri who carefully raises herself off Shiro without touching him, not feeling the least bit apologetic for her decolletage hanging in front of his face when she gets up. He looks away as he pulls himself up, losing his balance and stumbling a little.

“You okay?” Eri asks.

“Fine.”

Eri looks down at the bionic arm on his right side and he catches her, moving his arm behind his back. She looks away, not wanting to pry as she’s only just met the man, but something about him (other than his good looks) intrigues her and she finds she wants to know so much more about him than just his mission.

“We should go back to the Prince. We don’t know how long he’ll be knocked out for,” Irina suggests.

“Knocked out?”

“A story best saved for next time… And on the subject, may we meet with you again? It’s encouraging to have an ally here,” Eri says.

“Yes, of course.”

“Where?”

“Here again. It’s the only place they never check.”

“Our next chance out will be tomorrow evening. If we try to knock him out again any earlier in the day he will grow suspicious. Shall we say same time and place tomorrow night?” Eri proposes. Shiro nods. “Good. Till then, Shiro. Good night.”

“Night.” Thinking it the best place to drop, for the third time, Shiro hops back into the trolley, watching the two girls go before settling in for the night.

The girls sneak back into the prince’s room through the patio door and gently shut it again, twisting the nob three times until it clicks. Each taking two corners, they lift away the towel covering him and put it back where Eri found it previously, and then they strip out of their clothes and carefully crawl onto the bed. They both lay down beside the prince, Eri facing him and Irina away, and as their adrenaline slowly wanes they drift off to sleep, Irina sleeping dreamlessly, and Eri dreaming of an apologetic- although not Canadian- dark-haired human… The first person in the universe that she has _ever_ encountered to make her heart flutter.


End file.
